Chapter 102

The time in the small courtyard passed quietly.

Ever since Li Hao and Bian Ruxue returned to the mansion on the day of the temple fair, the two had never gone out again, both quietly waiting for the arrival of that day.

On weekdays, Bian Ruxue practiced swordplay in the courtyard, practicing only sword intent, not sword moves.

Otherwise, the momentum of the sword moves would be too fierce, and it would slash away the last touch of autumn in the courtyard.

When the sword dance ended, the young lady looked back at the pavilion.

But the pavilion was empty, and the figure of the boy from the past was no longer there.

In the young lady's clear, snow-like eyes, a few traces of desolation and depression couldn't help but appear, but only for a moment, she would compose herself and continue to devote herself to the cultivation of sword intent.

And in the Li family ancestral hall, Li Hao's figure would appear from time to time. He would find the Fifth Uncle to play chess, or run to the Listening Rain Tower, where he would flip through a book at random and sit for a whole day.

The two-month period was getting closer and closer, with only ten days left.

On this day, Li Hao was in an empty space by a pond in the courtyard, digging out the drawing board he hadn't touched for half a month, preparing to paint the last withered leaf of late autumn.

A figure ran into the courtyard; it was Li Yuanzhao.

He found Li Hao's side and said panting: "Brother Hao, Qianqian is looking for you."

"Qianqian?"

"It's Ren Qianqian, the one who went to Cangyu City with us before," Li Yuanzhao said quickly.

Li Hao recalled and said: "What is she looking for me for?"

"She said her father agreed, and she wants to learn swordplay from you," Li Yuanzhao said immediately.

Li Hao remembered this matter and felt slightly surprised.

"Brother Hao, do you agree? If you agree, I'll call her over," Li Yuanzhao asked. He was just running an errand.

Li Hao thought for a moment and said: "Okay."

Since she was so insistent, he couldn't refuse again.

"Alright."

Li Yuanzhao smiled and said: "She is outside the mansion; I'll go and bring her over right now."

Li Hao nodded.

After he finished grinding the ink and painting, Li Yuanzhao led Ren Qianqian, who had a slender figure and a beautiful appearance, over.

This girl was holding a sword in her arms, her head not looking around wildly, but her eyes were turning lightly to look around, sizing up this Divine General Mansion that countless people envied and yearned for.

Even as the daughter of a grandmaster, she was well-informed, but upon arriving here, Ren Qianqian's cheeks couldn't help but reveal a bit of nervousness.

The distance from the main gate of the Divine General Mansion to the Shanhe Courtyard was not short. Along the way, every distance, there were personal guards with murderous aura watching, and guards patrolling from time to time.

Calling it a mansion, it was actually no different from a smaller palace.

Along the way, Ren Qianqian had already seen several figures with auras similar to her father's, and even deeper and more restrained than her father's.

It's just that they didn't have that ethereal elegance of being beyond the world, but instead had a bit more restrained murderous aura like a sea of blood and mountains of corpses! This made her secretly shocked; these figures who had crossed the Heavenly Gate and could be called grandmasters seemed to be just guards in the Divine General Mansion.

"Brother Hao, Qianqian is here," Li Yuanzhao called out with a smile.

Only Li Hao was sitting alone by the pond.

Ren Qianqian looked at this genius young man who had been famous in recent days, and light appeared in her eyes.

After the battle in Cangyu City, she had expected that the other party's name would sweep through the entire Qingzhou City, but she didn't expect it to be so publicized and boiling when it really happened.

At this moment, she looked at Li Hao wearing a white shirt, carrying a noble temperament, holding a brush, and having just stopped sketching.

Ren Qianqian felt a bit surprised and unexpected in her heart. She had thought that a genius like Li Hao should be practicing desperately every moment.

She didn't expect him to be this leisurely at this moment.

"I've thought it through."

Ren Qianqian withdrew her mind slightly, her posture straightened a bit, and she said: "I want to learn swordplay from you, learn the strongest sword technique of your Li family. I am willing to be at your beck and call for the rest of my life!"

Li Hao's mouth twitched slightly; another child willing to abandon everything for the sword.

He sighed lightly in his heart and put the brush aside by the inkstone.

Then he turned around from the chair, faced the young lady, and asked earnestly: "Have you really thought it through?"

"Thought it through!" Ren Qianqian's eyes were solemn and serious.

"Does your father agree?"

"He has already agreed."

"Really?"

Ren Qianqian nodded, holding the sword in her arms tighter: "I want to surpass the grandmaster and achieve immortality with my sword!"

Li Hao smiled lightly and said: "What about immortality? A grandmaster is not beyond the world, and immortality is not immortality."

"Once today passes, you will be a person of my Li family. From now on, you will never be able to get away, even if you abolish your own martial arts, it won't work, because as long as you still remember, I won't let you leave."

"Unless you die!"

Saying this, his eyes suddenly became like blades, gazing at the young lady: "Can you really do it?"

Ren Qianqian's heart trembled slightly. Facing Li Hao's piercing gaze, she subconsciously wanted to retreat because the pressure was too strong to bear.

But when her heels lifted slightly, her body stopped. Thinking that if she couldn't even bear a look from a young man of the same age, how could she talk about practicing swordplay, how could she talk about achieving immortality with the sword?!

She took a deep breath and held the sword in her arms tighter, gritting her teeth and saying: "I can, I can do it!"

Li Hao looked at her deeply, then withdrew his gaze, and said indifferently: "Okay, from today on, you are my sword attendant, here to hold my sword."

Ren Qianqian was shocked in her heart and nodded immediately: "Thank you!"

"No need to thank me; each has their own payment."

Li Hao said: "In a while, I will take you to see Uncle Zhao. You go with him to sign the household contract, and by the way, get familiar with the environment and rules of the Divine General Mansion."

"Yes."

Ren Qianqian nodded and then asked: "Then when can I learn swordplay?"

Li Hao glanced at her and said: "I will teach you a sword first. You savor it slowly, comprehend it slowly, and ask me if you don't understand."

"Okay."

Ren Qianqian showed joy, and then seeing that Li Hao had no sword by his side, she hurriedly handed over the sword in her arms:

"You can use my sword."

"No need."

Li Hao turned around and picked up the brush that was resting on the inkstone by his side.

Then he casually flicked out a sword aura.

The sword aura swept across the pond water, and the pond water actually separated automatically, the sword marks like a broken waterfall.

It took a full few breaths before the separated parts gradually healed, and the sword aura swept to the end of the pond without causing any movement, failing to hurt a single blade of grass or tree.

Li Yuanzhao and Ren Qianqian were both stunned, standing blankly on the spot.

They could also slash out sword auras, but to be as effortless as Li Hao was something they didn't even dare to think about. Especially since this sword aura actually disappeared without a trace, this control of lifting the heavy as if it were light was simply jaw-dropping! "Brother Hao..."

Li Yuanzhao came back to his senses and said quickly: "Brother Hao, I want to learn too!"

"Go flip through the sword manuals in the Listening Rain Tower yourself."

Li Hao rolled his eyes at him: "Come ask me when you don't understand."

"Okay!"

Li Yuanzhao smiled when he heard this, and after saying goodbye to Li Hao, he ran away happily.

Ren Qianqian, however, was still staring at the pond, slightly dazed and lost in thought.

Time flew by.

In the following days, Li Hao was still reading in the Listening Rain Tower, occasionally lost in thought in the courtyard.

As for Ren Qianqian, Li Hao didn't rush to teach her the sword techniques of the Listening Rain Tower, but let her practice swordplay in the courtyard herself. He would occasionally give pointers, pointing out the defects in her sword technique, making her sword technique level gradually walk out of perfection and move toward the Ultimate Layer.

In the courtyard.

Li Hao stood with his hands behind his back, looking at a withered, bald tree.

Bian Ruxue walked over and saw a young lady practicing swordplay on the other side of the tree. Her eyes flickered slightly.

She had heard in the past few days that the girl was Li Hao's sword attendant, the daughter of a grandmaster.

However, although the status of a grandmaster's daughter was noble, it was nothing rare in the Divine General Mansion.

Bian Ruxue could see that the other party's sword technique was quite exquisite, but compared to herself, it was still much inferior.

So she didn't pay much attention to it anymore. After all, there are thousands of swordsmen in the world, and there are countless people with exquisite sword techniques.

"Brother Hao, what are you looking at?"

Bian Ruxue saw Li Hao looking at a withered tree and couldn't help but ask.

The last touch of autumn on the tree had long since withered.

Li Hao's eyes gradually focused, and he said softly: "I am looking at the wind."

"The wind?"

Bian Ruxue looked up and looked around. There was wind in the world, but it could only be felt; how could it be "seen"?

"It's a pity the wind is too small."

Li Hao said with a smile: "Small enough that it can't roll up the fallen leaves that are a mess everywhere, let alone shake this tree."

Bian Ruxue was startled and looked at this withered tree.

Indeed, she could feel the wind brushing her face. If it were spring when the leaves were lush, she would be able to see the shape of the wind swaying.

But it was late autumn now.

Suddenly, a sound came from the ground.

Immediately afterward, a large number of hoofbeats approached from far to near, galloping past the courtyard.

Bian Ruxue was surprised.

It was not strange to gallop in the mansion, but who would gallop in a group and so recklessly? Her divine sense flew out of her physical body, and looking from the air, she found a group of figures wearing cassocks passing by on the road outside the Shanhe Courtyard, galloping toward the distance.

That was the direction of the Shuihua Courtyard.

And the leader of that group was a middle-aged man wearing clean clothes and looking solemn in Buddhist appearance.

Besides practicing swordplay in the Sword Hut, Bian Ruxue had also learned about the famous forces in the world under the teaching of other senior brothers, which would be convenient for when she entered the world in the future.

Worldly wisdom and recognizing people and roads were even more important than swords in the Jianghu.

And these people before her were from Mount Wuliang.

The middle-aged man at the head was dressed as a Bodhisattva of Mount Wuliang.

A Bodhisattva is a powerhouse of the Four Standing Realms! Second only to that Wuliang Buddha Lord who enjoyed a thousand years of incense!

Bian Ruxue's expression changed slightly, and soon she saw a young figure riding a horse side by side with the Bodhisattva.

He swept past in a hurry, but at this moment, he suddenly turned his head to look at Bian Ruxue's divine sense, and their gazes met.

Bian Ruxue immediately knew that the other party was the son of that second aunt, and also Li Hao's True Dragon competitor this time! Li Qianfeng! The warhorse ran very fast, and the collision of gazes was just a matter of a flash of lightning, and the young man had already turned his head and left on horseback.

Bian Ruxue's divine sense returned to her body, and a solemn expression appeared on her face. She said to Li Hao: "Brother Hao, you must be careful of that person. Just now I felt that he is not simple at all!"

That brief eye contact gave her an icy chill that made the hair on her body stand up. She had a feeling that if the other party made a move, he could kill her in an instant! This made her worry for Li Hao in her heart.

"Mhm."

A smile appeared on Li Hao's face.

A breeze brushed past his feet, but it only rolled up a fallen leaf and flipped it onto the shoe on his instep.

As time counted down, after Li Qianfeng returned to the mansion, the days in the Divine General Mansion became more and more lively.

Every day, people came to visit, but most of them went to the Shuihua Courtyard.

These people were mostly Li family relatives, and they naturally came to support their nephew.

On the third day before the end, Li Tiangang took Li Xuanli and the wives and ladies of each courtyard to the Forget-Worry Mountain deep in the Divine General Mansion to welcome the old lady who had been eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddha for twenty years.

This old lady was Li Tiangang's mother.

Chen Hefang.

She was also Li Hao's biological grandmother.

At the same time, the old lady was also a member of the Chen family, one of the five great Divine General Mansions.

She had married into the Li family and given birth to nine sons who were famous in the world for that generation of the Li family's True Dragon.

But the old lady seemed to have had no dealings with the Chen family for a long time.

The grievances and entanglements between the thousand-year-old Divine General Mansions were extremely deep, plus the grievances of each side in the mansion itself, which were hard to tell in a few words.

As Chen Hefang was invited out, everyone in the Divine General Mansion gathered in the Qinglian Courtyard, which had been cleaned and had not been lived in for a long time.

In the huge main hall, the second generation, including Li Tiangang, gathered to pay homage. The Eighth Uncle, Li Fenghua, who was guarding the border outside, also rushed back. This True Dragon selection had to be witnessed unless there was a really unavoidable reason.

And here, Li Hao also met Li Qianfeng again.

For Li Qianfeng, this was the first time seeing Li Hao.

As for childhood, Li Hao was held by his mother to the courtyard, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Even if he saw it, he had long since thrown it to the back of his mind and didn't take it to heart.

Is this the son of the Seventh Uncle? He stood with his hands behind his back, tilted his head to size up Li Hao, his eyes narrowed.

As for Li Wushuang and the other third generation of the Li family standing behind Li Hao, he had also seen them, but none of them could catch his eye.

Li Wushuang, who was regarded as an opponent, was found to be only in the Ji Hun Realm at this moment, and had not stepped into the Fifteen-Li Realm.

Even if they were comparing the power of the same realm, he was not afraid.

Only this young man who was famous in Qingzhou and whose fame had gradually spread to other states made him feel unfathomable.

He couldn't see through Li Hao's cultivation realm at all.

(End of chapter)